9 women in run for provincial councils in north

MAZAR-I-SHARIF (PAN): Election officials said on Monday they had registered 66 individuals, including nine women, as candidates for provincial council elections, slated for April 2014, in the five provinces in the northern zone.

They said many people had obtained information kits on provincial polls in Balkh, Samangan, Jawzjan and Faryab. But only a few of them had officially registered themselves as candidates.

Balkh Independent Election Commission (IEC) chief Mohammad Ajmal Ahadi said so far 140 people had filed out forms to register, making the province to take lead in the registration drive in the northern zone.

Of them, he said, 27 individuals, including only three women, had officially jumped into the electoral fray.

In Jawzjan, 64 people have obtained information kits and 16 of them have so far been registered as candidates, according to provincial IEC chief, Amanullah Habibi. The registered candidates include two females.

In Faryab, the IEC chief put at 10 the number of registered candidates for the provincial council elections.

Mohammad Aman Aman told Pajhwok Afghan News the registration process had widely been disrupted in the province. He said only two females were among the registered candidates.

Only one woman each in Samangan and Sar-i-Pul have jumped into the race, with election officials saying only a few had returned after obtaining information kits.

Among 67 individuals, who obtained the papers, only seven had turned up to register themselves as candidates in Samangan, said Mohammad Karim, the provincial IEC chief.

In Sari-i-Pul, six candidates have been registered after 40 people obtained the information kits, said the provincial IEC chief, Aziz Ahmad Rassouli.

The central IEC office in Kabul on Sunday said only one presidential candidate had filed nomination papers over the past two weeks.

The registration process for presidential and provincial council candidates was set in motion on Sept. 16 and will run until Oct. 06.